“Equal tonnage?” Captain Mali-Lon asked her sensor officer.

“I will double check,” the sensor officer paused for a few seconds, “Correct, equal tonnage”

Mali-Loin returned her eyes to the wall spanning sensor screen and she gently rapped her fingers on the arm rest of her captain’s chair.

“The Surakari never fight fair. Reinforcements must be coming,” she stated aloud.

“Nothing new on Sensors captain. The last warship jumped in about ten minutes ago.”

“Do they know we are here? Maybe they were not expecting us at this planet.”

“With the planet between us and them, any line of sight sensors they have won’t help, but we will be on the other side of the planet in about fifteen minutes. We won’t stay hidden for long.”

Thinking back her days of gravitational physics, Mali-Lon commented, “If our estimation of Kaylynn 5’s mass was off, we would likely get some really crazy numbers on the fleet mass. How long until the Surakari arrive?”

“Two to three hours depending on their final rate of acceleration.”

“Alright, lets get the scientists off the planet. Chart a clear course of orbital escape.”

“Understood Captain, we will get everyone off the planet right away,” Hal-Ax-Ti responded over the comm system.

He loaded the team’s roster on his computer and the short list was able to appear on one screen. Floating next to each of the names was that member’s status. All had checked in except for the team’s other Geologist, Kar-Al-Lynn.

Placing his claws gently up against his temple, Hal-Ax-Ti sighed. He read the log out loud, “Kar-Al-Lynn had left an hour ago to examine something or another.”

Shaking his head, he commented, “Seriously, you wrote something or another in the log. This is not the time Kar-Al-Lynn.”

Copying out his radio frequency from the log entry, Hal-Ax-Ti transmitted, “Kar-Al-Lynn, please respond.”

Nothing happened. Only silence responded. The lead geologist tried again and waited. Nothing came back. He thought through his options. An attempt to get Kar-Al-Lynn had to be made, but time was short. Glancing back at the roster, he decided to put the last name on the list to work. If he didn’t come back, no one would miss him and an official rescue attempt would have technically been made.

Several minutes later, Alendar entered the office. The tiny Krylan walked up the lead Geologist’s desk.

“We have a situation Alendar,” Hal-Ax-Ti started, “Surakari forces have entered the system and are moving towards the planet. Kar-Al-Lynn is out in the field doing something or another. I need you to track him down. My guess he is in the mountain tunnels and that is why we can’t contact him via the radio.”

“Something or another?” The Krylan asked.

“Those were his words, not mine. With your suit, you can move faster and work quicker than an Heragul in zero atmosphere gear.”

“Understood. I will see what I can do.”

“You have three hours.”

Alendar left the office and headed off on his task.

Hal-Ax-Ti finished entering the task notes into the mission log, finishing with “The Krylan was given two hours to complete his task.”

*********************

Alendar bounded across the surface of Kaylynn Five, assisted by the reduced gravity of the small icy dwarf planet. Rising two kilometers into the airless sky, Kaylynn Five’s largest mountains sat about six kilometers in the distance. The Krylan adjusted frequency of his radio transmitter to match the log entry for Kar-Al-Lynn’s communication channel. His heads up display blinked a small indicator every thirty seconds as a radio ping was sent out. Alendar didn’t expect any response yet as the rocks in the mountains would still absorb the ping, but once he entered into the caverns, this setup would give him some ability to penetrate the rocks.

The Krylan came to stop in front of the cavern entrance his team as designated as the primary entrance. His mission timer counted away the first hour in the lower corner of his helmet’s heads up display. With his suit fully sealed, Alendar reduced the moisture reclaimer power and increased the output his suits radio system. His computer performed a quick calculation and estimated the output radio power would give him a ping range of about 100 meters through the thick cavern walls.

“Hopefully that will be enough”, Alendar thought.

Continue with Episode 2

Join the Battle for the Kalidasia Universe.